Gym Leaders are the ultimate measure of strength for Pokémon Trainers throughout their journey. They serve as both a way to test a trainer's progress and a challenge that can help push them past their limits. Both the anime and the games make it clear: Gym Leaders can be hard to beat.
Ash fought many gym leaders in different regions throughout his journey, and some battles were easier than others. While all gym leaders must be strong in order to maintain their position and properly test the trainers who challenge them, some are naturally more skilled than others. Here's a look at the strongest gym leaders in the anime for each region.
Pokemon: 7 Strongest Water-Type Trainers In Anime
These talented water-type trainers proved to be some of the best that the Pokemon anime had to offer.
Canto: Giovanni
The leader of Team Rocket and former leader of Viridian City's Gym, Giovanni may only seem like a scheming mob boss, but he's actually a formidable trainer. He always has his Persian on hand, but it's not the strongest Pokemon Giovanni has used.
Giovanni has some heavy hitters in his team, like Machamp, Rhydon and Golem. However, his strongest Pokémon was Mewtwo, with whom he formed a temporary alliance and sometimes used during Gym Battles to great effect. Even without Mewtwo, Giovanni was a cunning, resourceful gym leader.
Johto: Clair
Clair is no pushover in the games, and that's true of her anime counterpart as well. As Lance's cousin, Clair is skilled with Dragon types and shows a care for them that really helped her grow as a trainer and gym leader.
Clair is an aggressive trainer who uses her powerful Dragon-type Pokémon to push her opponents and take advantage of their unique strengths. While not an Elite Four member like Lance, Clair is pretty close in terms of skill and proved to be a challenge to whoever she took on.
Hoenn: Wallace
The former Hoenn champion and one of the leaders of the Sootopolis Gym, Wallace is a skilled trainer who is up there with the strongest in the anime. Wallace is a water type specialist and has a smaller team of Pokemon, but they are more than enough to get the job done.
Rearrange the casings in the correct Japanese release order.
Start
Rearrange the casings in the correct Japanese release order.
Light (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
The biggest obstacle for Wallace's team is his ace, Milotic. Although best known for its beauty, Milotic is a powerful water type. Although Wallace lost his championship title to Steven, he is still considered one of Hoenn's top trainers and gym leaders.
Sinnoh: Volkner
Although he initially lost his passion for fighting, which led to him falling into a rut, Volkner's passion for Pokémon battles was rekindled by his encounter with Ash. Even when he wasn't trying, Volkner was a strong gym leader who just needed a challenge to pique his interest.
Although not a member of the Elite Four, Volkner is quite close to his childhood friend Flint in skill. That places him among the strongest trainers in Sinnoh, and is enough for the region's strongest gym leader. Using a solid team of Electric-types, he's a smart, resourceful trainer who can beat you with his tactics just as easily as he can with his Pokémon.
Unova: Roxie
While her game counterpart is no early challenge, anime Roxie is different. Roxie is a determined young gym leader whose Poison-type team can be deadly if not taken seriously.
Roxie's most impressive feat in the anime came during her battle with Ash, where she took out five members of his team while only using three of her own. Home field advantage aside, that's a pretty impressive feat, even if Ash wasn't always at his best in Unova.
Kalos: Wulfric
The Kalos region had some incredibly talented and tough gym leaders in the anime. As Kalo's last gym leader, Wulfric poses a huge challenge to anyone who takes him on.
When Ash challenged him, Wulfric managed to take Ash down with just two Pokemon, challenging him to reconsider his bond with his Greninja. Thanks to this advice, their second match was much closer, and Ash emerged victorious after an intense battle.
Alola: Hello
The Alola region does things a little differently, forgoing traditional Gym Battles for island challengers led by Island kahunas, of which there are only four. Hala is the Kahuna of Melemele Island and serves as one of the strongest trainers the Alola region has to offer.
The ability to use Z-Moves gives Kahuna a slight advantage over most trainers in the series, giving his Pokémon a huge boost in battle. His grand trial battle against Ash was close, with his Crabrawler and Hariyama pushing Ash's team to the edge in a battle that could have gone either way.
Galar: Raihan
Raihan is not only the strongest gym leader in Galar, he is also one of the highest ranked trainers in the world. Raihan was the 8th ranked trainer in the World Coronation Series, but ended up in 9th place after losing to Ash.
Still, it's ridiculously high. Raihan is Leon's rival, showing how high he ranks in his own region. He is one of, if not the strongest, Dragon-type trainers in the anime, taking an already powerful type and getting the absolute most out of his team to the point where he could probably take on most regions' strongest trainers.
Paldea: Larry
At first glance, Larry doesn't seem like much. But behind his sad demeanor is an incredibly talented trainer and gym leader. Larry is not only a leader in Medali, he is also part of Paldea's Elite Four.
As both Gym Leader and Elite Four member, Larry has two different teams; a normal-type team for their gym and a flight-type team for the Elite Four. This shows how talented Larry is as a trainer, to be able to master and excel with two different types and still stand above the rest of the gym leaders in his region.
Pokémon
- Release date
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1997 – 2023
- Network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- Directors
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Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Ooga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuzaa,, Ken Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano
- Author
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Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shouji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku
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Rica Matsumoto
Satoshi (voice)
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Ikue Otani
Pikachu (voice)
